Emails to Electors reflect the character of HRC supporters…and some observations about media

Emails to Electors reflect the character of the element of the Democratic party that strongly supports HRC. Their reaction to my strongly worded message says more about them than me.

All humor aside, it is critical that Republicans know what kind of people send emails to electors.

Media filters

Please allow a quick digression into what you should know about media, including your favorite blogger. We are not conduits of raw news, we are filters of news.

It is impossible to deliver every message to you, so I must filter them and my biases are part of that filter.

When things are calm, or when I have days to think about an article, I have the luxury of examining those biases and how they affect my story. But if I'm an editor with a 10 p.m. deadline competing for the attention of a reader or viewer who is bombarded with sensational stimuli from a half dozen media sources, it is difficult to resist the urge to present the extremes.

Those decisions are even more critical when dealing with images and video. The subjective judgements of what to show are influenced by what readers and viewers find visually interesting. Social media and advanced analytics have made news increasingly consumer driven.

So, know that I could drag out the dozen or fewer, highly offensive, "F–k your God" emails. Headline, You won't believe what HRC supporters are saying, and the last one will shock you. Warning: X-rated. Readers would share that bad news all over social media. The message would go viral. SandstormScholar.com would enjoy fifteen minutes of fame.

But if only a dozen of 8,000+ correspondents chose to behave this way, how representative are they? They are the .2 percenters. And that's about how much attention I intend to give them. Focusing on bad behavior amplifies and empowers bad actors.

Scale is an important but often a neglected part of the story.

The character of HRC supporters reflected in emails

I've learned that we listened to the same speeches from the two candidates and heard distinctly difference messages. HRC's message was fear driven and many, many people believed it.

Fear is the stated movitation of most writers. They seem genuinely afraid. That's a terrible thing. Only time will change it.

The reader may find it interesting to know that roughly four fifths of the writers are female.

The following email typifies 75% or more of the messages I receive in emails to electors. If you want to know their ilk, this is it:

As a concerned US Citizen and voter, I naturally sent an electoral college email and got your response. With my personal views aside, I greatly appreciated that you took the time to put up an auto-response that addressed me and my concerns.

Despite political views amongst Americans, what we sometimes forget, which is honestly the most important part, is that because we are Americans we can even have a view/opinion and express it. I will always support the democratic party, but I also am appreciative to anyone in government that takes the time to care, which you did with your auto-responder. It's truly a rare thing.

—Shannan in Georgia

Political convictions aside, the inescapable conclusion about the overwhelming majority of HRC supporters is they are fine Americans, thoughtful, courteous and engaged.

This is a great country and her citizens are great people. If we each know and assume that about the other we can begin to heal.

That you would say so explains some of what is happening on college campuses. But you are quite wrong. Barack Obama is your President and mine. January 20, Donald Trump will be your President and mine. Perhaps you missed that class.

I disagree that HRC's message was fear driven. Mr Trump's campaign was filled with rhetoric that directly threatened many Americans. Many Trump supporters have said after the election that they voted for him under the assumption that he was exaggerating or saying things "for effect" and that he had no intention of actually putting into place restrictions on the rights of our fellow Americans.

But I maintain that in a civilized society it cannot be considered alarmist or fearmongering to take a man at his word. If we cannot have faith in a man's word, especially a man who is poised to be the 45th president of the United States, then we do not live in a civilized society.

My thoughts exactly.
The fear from my emails came not from media (I don't watch or listen to any American news save NPR; it is far too biased because that's how they get money), but from Donald Trump's stated agenda and from my knowledge of history.

Yes, each was told in my email they’d be published. Also, these are part of the public record. Not to mention that the law is fairly clear about the fact that you may do what you want with what I’ve written to you and vice versa.

It was interesting to read your interpretation of the women who have written to you about the election and our fears of having Mr Trump as the president. Thank you for giving us credit for being decent, concerned women. I can think of no other way to respond to the situation except to add it is more than just concern. Mr.trump's actions throughout the last year was the most upsetting rhetoric I have heard in my fifty years of voting. However, what is more distressing is His inability to change his language, to act as a mature man, and select decent people in his cabinet. Mr Trump acts like a nine year old child with his belittling twitts in the wee hours of the night where he belittles, accuses, and demands that his will be carried out. In addition, he seems to have total disreguard for laws, rules, and regulations that each president is expected to follow. Yet, you as a member of the Electoral College you seem to find his horrible behavior entertaining. Trust me, there is nothing entertaining about the shabby treatment and disrespect he is already showing for the office of president.

As for being a "republic" that protects the people who do not have a voice, where were you when women had no rights, Blacks were being hung for the color of their skin in the South, and where are you now? I could go on for pages, but since you and the rest of the members of the college have made up your minds. You seem to have no thought to what happens when Mr.Trump is no longer entertaining but a threat to all the rights of the people you are supposed to stand for. You are wise enough to add at the bottom of your page to place our faith in God and not in princes. Trust me, we have never doubted for aminute that we could trust the "prince" that is about to do his best to destroy our way of life!

Linda Thank you for your message, it basically cover my feelings,except for 2 things I need to mention.1, President Elect Trump keeps saying that he is going to build up our military,if that includes a draft, I will fight this any way I can. Most of our children in this day and age are ill equipped mentally for the savages of war, and we cannot take care of the veterans we have now.2. Most of the cabinet that he is building are going to set us back 50 years in time and this cannot be allowed. We need to preserve our civil rights,our environment and and the future of our children and grandchildren.

Hi, I sent you a note re: the electoral college. Thanks so much for your auto-reply – it led me to your blog. I appreciate this post and your attempt to share with your fellow supporters the real & civil nature of the asks & responses. Let’s move towards understanding.

I too wish to thank you for the auto-reply to those of us contacting members of the Electoral College to try to persuade you to vote for someone other than Mr. Trump. It is a thoughtfully written piece, contains no expletives, and did not degrade anyone. I am truly regretful that my expectations are exceeded simply when people are cordial. Unfortunately this is part of the problem. Taking turns, compromise, telling the truth and just being polite seem to be out of vogue. It likely sounds silly but I was raised with the decorum of people like Walter Cronkite. I find myself saying, "Walter would never say that or do that" or "How would Walter Cronkite feel about having to report on this" I doubt I could recite any argument that you have not heard before but Mr. Trump certainly does not pass my Walter Cronkite test. Is it asking too much that our President be courteous? not be impulsive? not be vindictive? not to pick cabinet members based on loyalty rather than ability?

Rather than asking you to support HRC (athough I would be fine with that), I simply want to remind the EC members that they could vote for ANYONE but Trump. Even the states with rules requiring the EC to vote as the general population in the state did, I am sure you know, there is no real penalty apart from a small fine for being a so-called faithless elector. I ask you, do you really want to USA to be represented by the kind of man DJT is? You say most of your emails are from fearful people and from women. I am both. I want my country to continue to be great—for everybody. Our country was built on diversity, on fairness, on being open to new ideas, on freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of/from religion. Look who DJT is appointing–Sessions, Bannon, Flynn! These are not people to bring the nation together. What kind of people does DJT respect–Vladimir Putin even as Putin is meddling in our elections. Trump says, Who needs NATO? What does it matter if more countries join the nuclear club? Surely you can see how dangerous this man is.

All I can ask is that you truly let your conscience be your guide on December 19.

This saddens me. I was one of the millions who wrote to our country's electors. My letter was respectful, but passionate, as I imagine most were. The fact that you have decided to mock and ridicule citizens who want to be heard, is sad. A respectful auto-response would be fine, why get snarky? I get it, you're a Trump lover – but you're also in a unique position, supposedly an honorable one. I'm 53, I've been on the losing end of elections before, but I've never been this disturbed by the results. Good luck with all that.

Saddens you, really? Did it sadden you that people have threatened my life? Did it sadden you that people respond with “f–k you and your god”? Did it sadden you that people have ridiculed my educator wife? Your sad meter is either broken or highly selective.

I’m sorry you do not care for satire. I have ridiculed stupidity, ignorance, profanity and often nasty replies. And questioned one “sad meter”.

I am sorry that you or your family have experienced any attacks and I will stand with you against any such behavior. Will you also stand with me as a fellow Texan against any behavior by DJT that attacks me or my loved ones? DJT's verbal attacks on his fellow Republicans (John McCain, Ted Cruz), and others have shook me to my very core. However you vote on Monday, I support your right to vote your conscience. Thank you for your service to our country and for your thoughtful reply to my email.

You are thoughtful and very well spoken, sir. Thank you for your blog and thank you for your response, which I also recieved. I appreciae your reference to the past as a good indicative for our future. I trust you to do your very best regardless of the outcome. Thank you for restoring my faith in our electorates.

“The Hebrew word for peace, shalom, is derived from a root denoting wholeness or completeness, and its frame of reference throughout Jewish literature is bound up with the notion of shelemut, perfection.

“Its significance is thus not limited to the political domain — to the absence of war and enmity — or to the social — to the absence of quarrel and strife. It ranges over several spheres and can refer in different contexts to bounteous physical conditions, to a moral value, and, ultimately, to a cosmic principle and divine attribute.”

You are clearly such a an honorable man who puts such great care into what words and actions you put out into the world; what a shame that a flimflammer such as Trump can take advantage of the system to twist even that to his benefit (and what a shame, also, that people apparently think that you and your wife—which, really, the fact that they would even bring her into it at all is an absolute disgrace—deserve threats of harm because of your moral uprightness).

That said, as a friend of several atheists, although I make no excuses for the blasphemous letters you've received, I can tell you that most of them simply don't understand how a true belief in God is as central to your life as your own beating heart. They don't, and have never, experienced that, so trying to explain to an atheist what God means to a believer is like trying to explain to a blind man what colors look like. So when they say "[expletive] your God," they cannot know how that wounds you. They simply feel a desperate urgency that a person like Trump not become the most powerful man in the world because of the damage and suffering that they (and I) believe he will inflict in the here and now. Which, again, is not an excuse for that kind of deplorable remark. But they very likely say that only out of ignorance and fear, not out of actual malicious intent.

You are clearly biased against HRC and pro-Trump. You are not simply voting with your state, you are voting for who YOU personally want to win. That is not what the electoral college is for. This is why we will do away with the electoral college. It is a joke.

I never heard any fear in the speeches given by Madam Secretary. I heard thoughtful plans for our future. I heard hate, mysoginy, racism and zero plans from Mr Trump! I pray the electors do us a huge favor and vote to overturn the election and give their votes to Hillary.

Thousands of the emails I’ve received tell a different story. “Scared to death” and “frightened” are common terms.

As for me, the only attempts at bullying have been from Clinton/anti-Trump supporters. I’m a natural born iconoclast. If there were icons that needed shattering here, I would. This boils down to judgement. Because Trump won Texas, mine and 37 others will determine votes here. That’s the process.